“Blessings to those who are doing his Commandments; their authority shall be over The Tree of Life, and they shall enter The City by the gates.” (Rev 22:14 Aramaic Bible in Plain English)Photo by Susanne Schuberth

Just lately God both nudged and even urged me to do several things which, to my own reason and habits, did not make any sense to me at that time. I saw no real danger, I only felt uneasy in my belly region about certain people and their way of thinking and believing. However, more and more every day, I felt that God wanted me to obey Him without understanding in advance WHY I should follow Him. In order to make me do so He caused great pains in my heart, severe sorrow and deep grief so that I thought I could not endure it any longer. As I eventually gave up on my own ideas of how life should turn out, how people should be, and on my own habits of dealing with and thinking about people, God gave me the strength to obey Him in a way that was not possible for me before. As I finally did several things He wanted me to do, my heart was all of a sudden flooded with such an intense supernatural joy that I even had to cry out loudly. “Wow!!!” 🙂 Oh, how quickly heartfelt obedience that seeks the approval of God and no longer the approval of man is rewarded by our Father in heaven who is ALWAYS pleased when His children ask Him for His wisdom and guidance in all things! In order to bring my joy home to you too, I posted that photograph above. I would see that beautiful tree on my prayer walk yesterday and I KNEW I had to take a picture. 😉

In order to illustrate this sort of spiritual leading I just described, I want to share a long but very helpful excerpt from Watchman Nee with you below. There he wrote about the difference between mere soulish intuition which all people have by nature (esp. women) and spiritual intuition which only those have who have been filled with God’s Spirit.

As the soul has its senses, so too has the spirit. The spirit is intimately related to the soul and yet is wholly unlike it. The soul possesses various senses; but a spiritual man is able to detect another set of senses—lodged in the innermost part of his being—which is radically dissimilar from his set of soulical senses. There in that innermost recess he can rejoice, grieve, anticipate, love, fear, approve, condemn, decide, discern. These motions are sensed in the spirit and are quite distinct from those expressed by the soul through the body.

We can learn about the sensing of the spirit and its many-sided character from the following verses:

“The spirit indeed is willing” Matt. 26.41

“Perceiving in his spirit” Mark 2.8

“He sighed deeply in his spirit” Mark 8.12

“My spirit rejoices in God my Savior” Luke 1.47

“The true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” John 4.23

“He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled” John 11.33

“When Jesus had thus spoken, he was troubled in spirit” John 13.21

“His spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols” Acts 17.16

“He had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit” Acts 18.25

‘Paul purposed in the spirit” Acts 19.21 ASV

“I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem” Acts 20.22 ASV

“(Be) fervent in spirit” Rom. 12.11 ASV

“For what person knows a man’s thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him” 1 Cor. 2.11

“I will sing with the spirit” 1 Cor. 14.15

“If you bless with the spirit” 1 Cor. 14.16

“I had no rest in my spirit” 2 Cor. 2.13 Darby

“We have the same spirit of faith” 2 Cor. 4.13

“A spirit of wisdom and of revelation” Eph.1.17

“Your love in spirit” Col. 1.8 literal

From these many passages we can see readily that the spirit clearly senses and that such sensing is manifold. The Bible is not telling us here how our heart senses but rather how our spirit does. And it would appear that the sensing of the spirit is as inclusive as that of the soul. The spirit like the soul has its thoughts, feelings, and desires. But how we must learn to distinguish the spiritual from the soulical! We shall come to appreciate this difference if we are matured through the deeper work of the cross and the Spirit.

It is while a Christian lives spiritually that his spiritual sense develops fully. Before he experiences the dividing of soul and spirit and union with the Lord in one spirit, his spiritual sense is rather dull. But once he has had the power of the Holy Spirit poured into his spirit, his inner man is strengthened and it possesses the sense of the matured. Only then can he fathom the various senses of his spirit.

This spiritual sensing is called “intuition,” for it impinges directly without reason or cause. Without passing through any procedure, it comes forth in a straight manner. Man’s ordinary sensing is caused or brought out by people or things or events. We rejoice when there is reason to rejoice, grieve if there is justification to grieve and so forth. Each of these senses has its respective antecedent; hence we cannot conclude them to be expressions of intuition or direct sense. Spiritual sense, on the other hand, does not require any outside cause but emerges directly from within man.

Great similarities do exist between the soul and the spirit. But believers should not walk according to the soul, that is, they should not follow its thoughts, feelings and desires. The way God ordains for His children is a walk after the spirit; all other paths belong to the old creation and hence possess no spiritual value. But how to walk after the spirit? It is living by its intuition because the latter expresses the thought of the spirit which in turn expresses the mind of God.

Oftentimes we think of a certain thing we have good reason to do and our heart delights in it and finally our will decides to execute it; yet somehow, in the inner sanctuary of our being there seems to arise an unuttered and soundless voice strongly opposing what our mind, emotion or volition has entertained, felt, or decided. This strange complex seems to infer that this thing ought not to be done. Now such an experience as this may change according to altered conditions. For at other times we may sense in the inner depths that same wordless and noiseless monitor greatly urging, moving and constraining us to perform a certain thing which we view as highly unreasonable, as contrary to what we usually do or desire, and as something which we do not like to do.

What is this complex which is so unlike our mind, emotion and will? It is the intuition of the spirit: the spirit is expressing itself through our intuition. How distinctive the intuition is from our emotional feeling. Frequently we feel inclined to execute a certain act, but this inward, unarticulated intuition sharply warns against it. It is totally counter to our mind. The latter is located in the brain and is of a reasoning nature, while intuition is lodged elsewhere and is often opposed to reasoning. The Holy Spirit expresses His thought through this intuition. What we commonly refer to as being moved by the Spirit is but the Holy Spirit making us know His will intuitively by working upon our spirit. Just here can we differentiate between what comes from God’s Spirit and what from ourselves and Satan. Because the Holy Spirit dwells in our spirit which is at the center of our being, His thought, expressed through our intuition, must arise from that innermost region. How contrary this is to thought which originates at the periphery of our being. If a notion should come from our outward man—that is, from the mind or emotion—then we realize it is but our own and not that of the Holy Spirit; for whatever is His must flow from the depths. The same distinction applies to what comes forth from Satan (those of demon possession excepted). He dwells not in our spirit but in the world: “he who is in you (the Holy Spirit) is greater than he who is in the world (Satan)” (1 John 4.4). Satan can only attack us from the outside in. He may work through the lust and sensations of the body or through the mind and emotion of the soul, for those two belong to the outward man. It therefore behooves us to learn to distinguish our feelings as to whether they originate with the inner, or come from the outer, man.

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29 thoughts on “Trust and obey or… On how to walk after the spirit”

Susanne,
After reading your blog post the Spirit spoke to me with a phrase that is in this passage and said to post it here in its context. May He continue to direct our paths in His righteousness. Though obeying Him at first may be painful, the JOY the He floods us with when we do is well worth the pain.

“I will bless the LORD, who has given me counsel: my heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices: my flesh also shall rest in hope…. You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” (Ps 16:7-11, KJ2000)

And then He gave me this,

“Therefore seeing we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily ensnare us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb 12:1-2, KJ2000)

Oh how these verses about obedience and the joy that comes afterwards are taking on great scope in our lives! May we lay aside every weight and live the rest of our lives in His presence where there is fullness of joy. Amen.

You might assume rightly, but I am not that sure why I left Facebook and unfollowed all other blogs except for Michael’s and my own. I did some more things today and the more I obeyed God, the freer I felt. And the joy is an amazing reward too. So, it seems to be the right way…

Well, Susanne, I can identify with your withdrawal from so many world ties. Not that I have done exactly the same, of course, but social media, blogs, and the like are expressions of the world which we allow into our lives. For me, the temptation is to be overly influenced by the world to the detriment of my walk with Jesus. So although we are to be in the world, it is important to spend more time with our Savior. Sometimes that means stopping what we have been doing!

Well, Louise, I wish I could say that I knew what I did yesterday and today. Not that I ever liked Facebook… 😛 Indeed, I hated it from the beginning as I joined it less than 1 1/2 years ago. But it seemed to make some sense to me to use FB in order to mainly share my blog posts and poems and at times a fitting quote with others. However, I always felt uneasy as I saw that I should sign in on FB again because of some notifications (comments, likes, chats, tags or whatever). Beforehand I had thought I would meet more Christians there, but alas, there are Christians who are more interested in politics and in gaining a ‘position’ of sorts before other Christians (even when outside of the church). Also, you get invitations to online games and similar stuff… others think they are prophets although they only talk worldly nonsense… etc. pp. All that non-spiritual ‘Christian’ stuff finally bored me to death.

As for unfollowing all other blogs, I do not really understand it as yet, but you may know I had only followed a few still and I was not interested in worldly things since 2008. I followed some ‘Christian’ blogs only and what I found, inter alia, were people who were like chameleons, dependent on which blog they commented. Actually, I also found so many false gospels preached by people who claimed to agree with me on here. Yes, I saw too much dishonesty and and a phony ‘kindness’ I could not bear any longer. That’s why I left.

You are so right, Lousie, spending time with God is the most important thing for us to do! Well said! ⭐

I am in agreement with you Susanne fully and totally agree. I don’t follow many blogs and very must trust yours. It feels like I went through the same ordeal, however wording it out and experiencing what is worded takes for me to practice and learn. Differentiating between soulish and intuition is not easy for me to quite comprehend. Another thing about obedience… Last night before going to sleep I felt peace and prayed and for you as well and thanked God that finally I was able to obey in those areas that needed obeying. This morning as I was walking I was able to finally sing praises and feel the continued peace. I don’t blame you about the FB thing. And I truly from the bottom of my heart want to thank you and Michael for everything! The Lord knows my heart. Amen. Thank you.

Stacey, I think you are right that it is very difficult to discern between soulish and spiritual intuition. If intuition comes from the soul only, we will find many reasons for and against it. Yet if it was the Spirit, we might be sure that it makes NO sense to our reason and logic unless God confirms the truth of what He shared with us later. And, Stacey, He always (!) confirms while our soulish musings lead to nothing but to endless hamster wheels of fruitless thoughts. The following Scripture came to mind.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.” (Prv 3:5-8 ESV)

Our own understanding and usual ways of thinking are of the flesh (soul). God instead always takes us entirely by surprise. And… He does not talk that much. But Satan and our own mind (of the old nature) keep chattering without ceasing. Unless God gives us His peace, it is almost impossible to hear Him clearly.

You are welcome as to everything I could do, Stacey. Thank you for your prayers, too. I am glad God let you feel His peace once again!! 🙂

Susanne, I also feeling a greater sensitivity in God’s leading regarding my time on the net and who I have fellowship with. It is like He is isolating me from any input that would distract me from hearing what HE wants me to understand and obey at this time in my life. He has isolated me unto Himself before to adjust my hearing. I have to take one day at a time, but I am sure He told me to get off Face Book. So, we will see what has to go next.

Praying for you in your journey, dear sister. It is amazing how many things that God has been saying to us that are the same.

“Can two walk together, except they are agreed?” (Amos 3:3, KJ2000)

“I will stand upon my watch, and set myself upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.” (Hab 2:1, KJ2000)

What helped me really begin to flow with the mind, heart, will and intention of our Father was when I began to mediate on the reality that we were given new minds (Mind of Christ) at salvation and that the carnal minded man is dead to us now. So as i continue to come into alignment with His Word that we the carnal thoughts are foreign to us.. and that we are more than empowered to walk by our renewed mind, I found the contention and struggle was much less.
instead of the traditional/institutional thinking that told me I will always have this struggle i began to walk in the reality I am a spirit being, with a new soul (mind of Christ) and that the dead man was in fact… dead to me.

I love the verse where Paul states the law of sin wages war against he law of his MIND… how often we have been taught the opposite. We in fact, have a new mind that can agree and submit to our spirit man, whereas the carnal mind cannot and never will.

Not sure if this made sense or not, but I pray it encourages you a bit as I did (and still does) me. 🙂 Father bless.

After many years I have come to believe that salvation is not what I thought in the beginning. Instead, it turns out to be a very long process where we more and more get acquainted with the mind of Christ. Alas, the carnal mind is so strongly connected to our old soulish life that it really needs to be killed by God through His Spirit. He finally gives us the power to kill the works of the flesh, to renew our minds, and to put on the new self. However, it is a looong time until we get there and we only reach it through much suffering, too. The gate is narrow and the path that leads to life, you know it, only a few will find it by God’s grace. Whoever wants to follow Christ must endure the cross until the old nature is totally crucified with Him.

No doubt that the apostle Paul was perfected (in love) as he spoke of having the mind of Christ for it was no longer Paul who lived, it was Christ in Him after he (Paul) had died to his old self and entered the kingdom of God. I agree!

Wow Sue that quote from Nee is deep and the thought I got from it was that we must learn how to tell the difference from when we get this intuition—is it from God or satan or maybe just our own?—glad to see that I am not the only one who left facebook!

As for Facebook… Well, I only had orders from the Lord to leave FB and to deactivate my account. Whether I will delete the account later completely or not, or even return to FB, only God knows. The Holy Spirit’s wind… you know. 😉

I am reminded of the verses of God’s promise to Give us new souls (Jer 31:33) balanced out with 1Pet 4:1 (sufferings purifies) and how this new mind can only be accessed as we enter into His sufferings.

I think its amazing how much, In His immeasurable love for us, he orchestrates all things to set us free from that which is death in our lives.. including suffering….all to glorify Him and commune with Him.

Susanne, thank you so much for your enlightening article and especially to the excerpt and link to that chapter about intuition in the Spirit from “The Spiritual Man.” I just carefully read the whole ten page chapter, saved it, and highlighted it in a Word doc so I can read it again and again. It so well explains the struggle by trial and error that I have been going through to discern the difference between what comes out of my mind and what is to be said or written under the inspiration and revelation of the Spirit which Nee calls “spiritual intuition.” In this chapter he gives many examples that show the difference between soulical thinking and listening and acting by God’s whisper in our inner man.

Dear sister, I am so grateful for the times God has used you to alert me to the difference when out of the abundance of my heart (and my Bible educated mind), my mouth has spoken without the Spirit’s leading. Your gentle (and prayerful) rebuke was so often added to by the Spirit and I found out how it feels to have the “Rock of Offense” resting on my heart until the lesson was driven home. Oh, how important it is to embrace the cross God has given us and to welcome His correcting hand as well as His voice of instruction through the Spirit. It was encouraging for me to read Nee’s closing remarks to this chapter,

“To learn how to walk after the spirit is a lifetime’s occupation for the new man. If one wholly follows the spirit, he shall overcome the man of the flesh completely. Through the strengthening by the Holy Spirit of the spirit in the new man, the believer shall be able to destroy totally his minding of the flesh so as to mind the things of the spirit. This is life and peace.”

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go: I will guide you with my eye… Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him.” (Ps 32:8-10, KJ2000)

Oh yes, dear Lord, sensitize me to your will so that only one look from your eye will lead me in the way I should go (and whether to speak). Amen.

Nee describes a struggle we all need to go through and it is not an easy one, indeed. My brother, I never liked to ‘alert’ you when I felt God giving me a prayer burden on my heart and that he wanted me to speak up which I myself had rather avoided. And I do know the other side, too, that is, listening to my soul in order to do ‘God’s work’ (earlier than it would have been according to His plan) and finally seeing what I did by offending you. The ‘Rock of Offense’ kills our old self, eventually, and enduring this cross is anything but fun as we both know. But God is good! And there is light on the other side, over the horizon the sun/Son is rising. Can you see it already, my brother? 😉

Yes, I can see it, dear Susanne, the bright light at the end of that long tunnel of the dark night. It is such a blessing that Father brought us together for the last part of that journey to encourage one another during what has seemed to be the hardest part. Look at what Peter wrote here…

“For he [Jesus] received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; to which you do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:” (2Pet 1:17-19, KJ2000)

Peter heard the Father speak over Jesus that day and saw Him transformed into a being of Light, but Peter says that WE have a MORE SURE word of prophesy in us that we do well to heed… HIS LIGHT shining into our individual darknesses! And what is the final outcome? That very Light of the Son rising in our hearts NEVER to be lost again! I am sooooo blessed to be on this life transforming journey with you, Susanne! ⭐ ❤ ❤ ⭐

Susanne, as I read your reply the words to an old song came flooding into my mind and heart…

“I can see clearly now the rain is gone.
I can see all obstacles in my way.
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind.
It’s gonna be a bright (bright)
bright (bright) sunshiny [SONshiny] day.
It’s gonna be a bright (bright)
bright (bright) sunshiny day.

“Oh, yes I can make it now the pain is gone.
All of the bad feelings have disappeared.
Here is that rainbow I’ve [we’ve] been praying for.
It’s gonna be a bright (bright)
bright (bright) sunshiny day.

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(John 3:16-17 ESV)

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